You are invited Friday evening to celebrate Professor John _______’s retirement from this faculty, from committees and gradebooks and tedious discussions of nuances which he now views as the exclusive properties of those who can recall the words which seem to him unreliably accessible; the minute his sentences begin they recede like cities from a plane window; ……………………………………………………now he is on a plane different from the one we inhabit; his has sudden trapdoors in the air, somewhat like Chutes ’n Ladders – a game he likes anew, and Solitaire, he likes that too. Please RSVP re John’s withdrawal from this and, gradually, let us not mince words, from his other faculties.
We just wanted to confidentially acknowledge that John’s expertise has experienced some depletion, as if the sun were from now on to be rather more moon, often a new one, he knowing there has been some change or diminishment but not sure whose, because no longer quite certain who he was, nor quite who we are, or who we were when he was still completely John. ………………………………………..So please come prepared not to be recognized. Our John jokes and John memories may be lost on nonJohn. Nor should we gather around him, but greet him one at a time, because there may be lucid moments when individually we each might reassert in his mind our relation to the prior John. ………………………………………………..While this reception will be held from 6 to 8 it will be ongoing for nonJohn, a continuous volley of blanks firing long after his guests have gone and left him among his family who know he underknows them but not the extent to which, since he’s sly is nonJohn, sly about giving you the slip, even when only quasi-clear on who is doing the slipping.